the parade marches on

This weekend we decided to keep making the most of the Parade of Homes and check out a few more houses. Not all of the houses were exactly our style, but we were still able to get some good ideas. Below are some of our takeaways from the Parade.

Granite-Chip Driveway – This is a unique solution for a driveway. Around Winter Park, you see this type of driveway occasionally, either because the house is tight on their impervious ratio or the owners like the look. It is something we haven’t thought about much but after seeing it at a few houses we decided we both liked the look of it!

Pantry Pass-Thru – In the picture below, the pantry wall on the right hand side is adjacent to a wall in the kitchen, so the builder included a pass-thru. Their idea was to leave the Keurig and other kitchen appliances on the wooden counter in the pantry, then open the pass-thru to use those appliances as needed. We thought this was a cool idea and wanted to share it even though its something we cannot do in our house due to the location of the pantry and kitchen.

Bathroom Sink Shape – It may seem like something simple but during the parade, we realized we really like rectangular sinks in the bathroom. Our style is more transitional so the rectangular shape works well with that style and we are excited to have a direction for this selection!

Outdoor Entertaining – Our outdoor summer kitchen will be on an exterior wall. We have gone back and forth about whether it should be against a solid wall or open wall. One of the houses offered this solution which we thought would be a good comprise to still allow natural light but also a wall to base the outdoor grill on. We also really liked their outdoor ceiling fan!

Outdoor shower – We know we want to include an outdoor shower by the pool, exactly what it will look like or where it will be located remains a mystery. We thought about putting it around a corner, almost out of main sight. The other option is to put it on a main wall around the patio. One of the houses included the outdoor shower on a main wall but dressed it up with a banding outline filled with mosaic tiles that matched their pool. We really liked this concept and will look to see if we can incorporate it into our design!

Although none of the ideas we got from the parade were significant, they are still small details that will help make our house unique. Hopefully, you were able to check out a parade near you and find some inspiration as well!